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A Night out on the Town

Heroes Remember

A Night out on the Town

Transcript
So my buddy, he says, “Chuck” he said, “lets go out.” He said, “We can’t get anything on the base here to drink.” You know, there’s no way for us to get a bottle.” But he said, “usually you go out”, you know. And those places, the South Koreans, you know, they got places where you can go and you’d be able to buy a bottle you know. I said, “Okay, lets go!” Anyway the two of us went and we ended up getting a bottle of Canadian Club. The seal was still on it. It was not even broken or anything and we went prepared. We got it because we had some coke and that with us, things of coke, just in case. That was the only thing we could get on the base. And anyway we got there this fellow brought us in, his mamasan, his papasan they were all sitting there. But they didn’t drink, you know, they didn’t know what the heck we were talking about. Anyways so my buddy there, we drank. By the time we got to half a bottle now after being off the booze for so long, I’ll tell ya, when we left, he drank more than I did. I was a little lighter on the liquor than he was. We were going up this main street and the buildings and that, they were all in shambles and everything else the lot of them. And finally my buddy, he fell down. He was loaded. I couldn’t get him up. I couldn’t say, “Come on, lets go we gotta get.” So anyway I said “Well oh my gosh” and it was pitch black. Not a thing moving. So finally I saw a little flicker of a light farther up. That is a sentry box where Korean MP’s would, I said to myself I hope to hell. I hauled him over, as much as I could, so he wouldn’t be, anyone you know wouldn’t run over him with a vehicle and there wasn’t too many vehicles anyway. But anyway I walked, jeez it was a nice distance away, but I could see the light and I tried to explain to the Korean MP’s and I was saying boyson, you know, down there and you know. So finally they got a little bit you know, come on, you know. One fella come and got in the jeep with me and we went down. Buddy was, he was gone. I said, “Oh blessed all mighty.” So anyway, he drove me back to the base. And when I went back to the base here was my buddy sitting down with a bunch more fellas drinking. I said, “Where in the heck did you go?” He said, “A couple of American MP’s came along in a jeep and picked me up and brought me back!”
Description

Mr. Rees describes an amusing adventure during a night out on the town.

Charlie Rees

Charles Rees was born in Lance Cove, Newfoundland on July 14, 1930. He first experienced the consequences of war at the age of 12, when he and the rest of his community were involved in rescuing the crew from two ships torpedoed nearby. While working in Toronto, Mr. Rees made the decision to enlist for service in the Korean War. He was sent overseas with the 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, where he served a one year tour of duty on the 38th Parallel. When he returned to Canada, he trained as a paratrooper. After leaving the service, he was a pressman in the printing trade. Mr. Rees joined both the Atlantic and Canadian Korean Veterans Associations.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
3:00
Person Interviewed:
Charlie Rees
War, Conflict or Mission:
Korean War
Location/Theatre:
Korea
Branch:
Army
Units/Ship:
Royal Canadian Regiment
Rank:
Private
Occupation:
Bren Gunner

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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